): The research and career development plans proposed in this application will provide the applicant with training in research design and analyses of behavioral studies in animals as well as training in specific techniques applied in research of neural substrates of socioemotional behavior and cognitive functions with a possible application to human neurodevelopmental disorders. The proposed studies will take advantage of the experimental evidence based on lesion studies that the amygdala (A) is one of the crucial structures mediating socioemotional behavior. The goal of the proposal is to investigate the role of A and its specific subdivisions for socioemotional behavior. Specific Aim 1 and 2 concentrate on the effects of pharmacological blockade of neurotransmission in basolateral and central A, respectively, on social interactions in juvenile animals. Drugs known to either block or enhance GABA-ergic or glutamatergic transmission will be focally infused into either basolateral or central subdivisions of A and effects on social interactions will be analyzed. Specific Aim 3 will evaluate the effects of pharmacological deactivation of the A on a cognitive task that measures, in object discrimination task, the preference for objects rewarded by two different food rewards, one of which was devalued by selective satiation ("reinforcer devaluation effect"). This task has been previously shown to be sensitive to A damage. The experiments designed to pursue these Aims will provide an ideal opportunity for the applicant to gain both theoretical and practical experience in the combined use of pharmacological, behavioral and MRI approaches to the study of the animal models.